In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Welcome back to Purify the Heart. I’m Pastor Zachary Courie, and today we continue our journey through the book of Exodus. Yesterday, we saw Pharoah get angry at Moses and Aaron’s first visit regarding letting God’s people go. Pharoah responded with a vengeful increase in the slave labor of the Israelites, causing the foremen of the Israelites to be angry with Moses and Aaron, leading Moses to cry out to the Lord in desperation. Today, the Lord comforts and encourages Moses to persist in his call.

Exodus 6

6 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.

10 So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. 15 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. 17 The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. 18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. 19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. 20 Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. 21 The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22 The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23 Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24 The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25 Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their clans.

26 These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.” 27 It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

28 On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 the Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?” (Exodus 6:1–30, ESV)

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

In chapter 5, after Pharaoh laid it on thick for the Israelites, and Moses got the brunt of it, the discouraged Moses cried to the Lord in complaint that the Lord hadn’t delivered His at all. No doubt, Moses thought the Israelites’ deliverance was going to happen easier and faster. In chapter 6, the Lord wants to comfort Moses in the midst of his affliction. The Lord reminds him of who he is and his promises.

He starts by foretelling to Moses that Pharoah will drive the Israelites out of his land with a “strong hand”, indicating that Pharoah will eventually expel them. Then the Lord continues by reminding Moses of the name that He revealed to him. He says, “I am the Lord”. If you’re reading along in your Bible, you may have noticed by now that when the word Lord is used, it’s very often found in uppercase letters. That indicates that it’s the revealed, divine name of God “Yahweh” that’s being translated to “Lord”. Instead of translating it “I AM”, we would translate it “HE IS,” so that God is telling Moses, “I am HE IS.” This is confusing to us, but the point is to remember that true existence is found in God Himself, and unity with Him. It’s worth noting that the biblical idea of hell should be understood less as a physical place, and more as the reality of eternal separation from God and therefore a non-existence that is nevertheless experienced. These can be challenging concepts to ponder, but the point is that God has revealed this about Himself for Moses’ comfort. He later had Moses write these things down so that we too may be comforted by who God is.

The Lord goes on to remind Moses of the covenant that He established with the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who was renamed Israel) so that Moses would be reminded of the bigger picture in the midst of his tribulation. Because the Lord had promised to give the land of Canaan to Israel’s descendants, Moses could be sure that the Lord, who is not a liar (Numbers 23:19, Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18), will fulfill His promises, and see Moses and the Iraelites through to the end.

Understandably, the Israelites didn’t listen when Moses, at God’s command, reminds them of these things, literally, because of “shortness of breath” and “severe labor”. The Lord then commands Moses to go to Pharoah again, and Moses is again hesitant, telling the Lord that Pharoah wouldn’t listen because Moses himself was “of uncircumcised lips”. One Lutheran theologian explains this as “lips which made it impossible for him to transmit the words of the Lord to Aaron with the proper ease and fluency and in all their stainless purity.” (Kretzman, Popular Commentary)

Next, we the readers and hearers are let in on the family history of Moses and Aaron, rooting them as descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (a.k.a. Israel), Levi being the son of Israel whose tribe would produce Moses and Aaron. These things may seem irrelevant to us; but it’s demonstrating for us how God is keeping His promises to the Israelites even in the midst of their oppression.

How does this chapter point us to Christ?

The Lord reminding Moses of His name and therefore of who He is shows us why Christ was constantly preaching about Himself or pointing others to Himself. If He was only a man, He certainly would have been a blasphemer and narcissist; but because Christ is true man and true God, we can see that He wanted to comfort His first hearers and us with the certain knowledge that our eternal salvation rests solely in Him. This is also the purpose of Christ's apostles. As St. Paul says, their ministry would go on to be one where they “preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23), risen, and ascended to the right-hand of the Father so that all of God’s promises for us would find their ultimate fulfillment in the person and work of Christ. It is in light of Him that we, who have been baptized and called to follow Him, would be enabled to deny ourselves and take up our cross daily. (Luke 9:23)

The genealogy in Exodus 6 also gives us insight into the purpose of the genealogies found in Sts. Matthew’s and Luke’s gospel accounts. For the promise of God to Abraham (Genesis 12:7) to ultimately be fulfilled in Christ (Galatians 3:16), Jesus would have to be born in the lineage of Abraham. And yet, the promise of deliverance from sin, death, and devil are for us who trust in Jesus as our Deliverer, whether or not we are of the bloodline of Abraham; for we are not children of the flesh, but children of the promise. (Romans 9:8; Galatians 3:29)

Let us pray. O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Thanks for joining me to Purify the Heart! Tomorrow, we’ll continue with Exodus 7, where Moses and Aaron confront Pharoah again, resulting in the first plague. Until then, grace be with you. Amen.

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